"Writers ask me, what I think of the state of
hip-hop in Canadia - and I tell 'em, I DON'T
I'm sorry if I don't think about rap in Stoville
I'm busy tryin to get rap to pay my phone bill"
- GG Allin

In one sense I can't really add anything about this album that
DJ Complejo didn't
say on the standard edition. It was a brilliant album in 2011,
and it's still a brilliant album now. Derek Christoff's dark and
acerbic worldview may not be for everybody, but he taps into a
vein that runs deep through hip-hop's core and mines a motherlode
of lyrics that speak truth. He mixes his contempt for mediocre
unchallenging rap music with a biting sarcastic wit and the urge
to lay himself bare on every song - holding none of his self-hatred
or personal torment back. The rawness runs red like a blood stained
horrorshow of ultraviolence, and yet the music becomes his cure,
enabling to shoot his lyrics rockets "To the Moon" with hopeful
words like "I'm alive right now." A study in his contradictions
could keep a psych ward full of doctors employed for a lifetime,
but in the meantime, it creates rap lyrics you can sink teeth into:

What makes this "D-Luxe Edition" worth writing about is that
it takes what was originally only available in D-Sisive's closet full
of leftovers and exposes them to the world, adding 24 more minutes
of audio to the presentation. There may be a narrow target audience
for these items - Derek fans who bought it the first time and are
willing to go to the well once more - and yet those fans would be
rewarded by two unreleased version of "Brian Wilson" from
"The Book" that
are seemingly done with a personal tape recorded in laundry room.
You don't often get the chance to see a song now regarded as
a hip-hop classic in the raw unpolished developmental stages.
All four "tape recorder demos" are as rough as their name suggests
yet better than what most emcees with a a full studio could do.

In fairness one must also note that while the raw demos are
fascinating, "The Busker" is not a raw demo, but it's not that
hot of a track. It has the sound of something cut from "Run
With The Creeps" for all the right reasons - a beat that never
goes anywhere and lyrics that don't showcase Derek's best
thoughts. "Bang Boogie" is a worthwhile bonus track though,
and "Funky Man (Dee Dee Ramone Hijacked)," which hints
at a moment in history that both Ramones fans and hip-hop
heads may both be unaware of - that punk rocker's short-lived
stint as a rapper by the pseudonym "Dee Dee King." The
trip is that Derek uses the end of the song to rap Dee Dee's
own clunky lyrics, and while that's arguably a funny riff on the
"Funky Man" song, he can't help but do it better than Dee
Dee did himself:

"I like rap, and hip-hop
I like hardcore and punk rock
I like hot dogs, franks and beans
I grew up in Forest Hills, Queens
I like to win, don't like to fail
Don't like to get, bills in the mail
I'm a funky guy, I got funky bones
I'm a funky guy, my name is Dee Dee Ramone"

"A Little Song For You" featuring Matt Brevner and "Don't
Turn the Lights Out" featuring Neverending White Lights
both could have stood on their own merits, been released as
singles, or added to a brand new D-Sisive album - they're not
the kind of material that would age and get dated quickly. In
short I think the best thing I can say about "D-Luxe" is that
if you didn't buy the album already you should go for this
version - and if you did a hardcore Derek Christoff fan will
ultimately pony up happily to hear this bonus material.